Development of NSAIDs prescription indicators based on health outcomes

Indicators for assessing quality of drug use: A systematic literature review

OBJECTIVE

We searched and described existing drug-related indicators, and provided helps for using indicators for quality assessment of drug use and developing new indicators.

METHODS

We searched 8 databases and 41 official WebPages of national pharmaceutical administration department or academic organizations to obtain literature on drug-related indicators. Researchers extracted data including basic information (countries, issue time et al.), target population, categories, and various characters of indicators. We finally conducted a descriptive analysis to summarize these indicators.

RESULTS

A total of 3598 literatures were retrieved, 39 of which were finally included. a) A total of 876 indicators were identified. Of which, 9.5% were structure indicator, 83.6% were process indicator and 6.9% were outcome indicator. b) Evaluation dimensions of indicators could be summarized as prescribing quality, patients' experience, pharmacy administration, drug-therapy process and cost. c) In included indicator sets, 9 were developed for specific drug, 7 were for specific disease and 6 were for specific population. d) Instructions of indicator sets were identified. 7 terms of instructions were included such as rationale, prerequisite and definition of indicators.

CONCLUSIONS

Most study suggest that prescribing quality is an essential dimension and process indicator was greatly considered in drug use evaluation. Drug-related indicators for general adults were relatively well-developed. There was an urgent need for investigation of drug use indicators for children and pregnant women.

A Systematic Review of Patient Safety Measures in Adult Primary Care

Safety measure development has focused on inpatient care despite outpatient visits far outnumbering inpatient admissions. Some measures are clearly identified as outpatient safety measures when published, yet outcomes from quality improvement studies also may be useful measures. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to identify published articles detailing safety measures applicable to adult primary care. A total of 21 articles were identified, providing specifications for 182 safety measures. Each measure was classified into one of 6 outpatient safety dimensions: medication management, sentinel events, care coordination, procedures and treatment, laboratory testing and monitoring, and facility structures/resources. Compared to the multitude of available inpatient safety measures, the number of existing adult primary care measures is low. The measures identified by this systematic review may yield further insight into the breadth of safety events causing harm in primary care, while also identifying areas of patient safety in primary care that may be understudied.